Cyclone vessel dust collectors, which remove dirt, dusts or the like using one or more cyclone vessel, are well known in the prior art. It is also well known that in a vacuum cleaner, multiple cyclone vessels are more effective in removing dirt and dusts than a single cyclone vessel.
Configurations for cyclone vessel dust collectors having multiple cyclone vessels, in which a primary cyclone vessel first separates relatively coarse dusts or dirt and then a secondary cyclone vessel separates fine dusts, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,192, U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,228, etc. Recently, however, various other types of cyclone vessel dust collectors such as those described in GB 2 360 719 and WO 02/067755 have been disclosed.
For example, the cyclone vessel dust collector described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,425,192 is comprised of a primary cyclone vessel and five secondary cyclone vessels arranged above the primary cyclone vessel and parallel to the primary cyclone vessel. A dirt collection bin receives dirt separated in the first cyclone vessel. An separate area for collecting or receiving dusts separated by the secondary cyclone vessels is isolated from the dirt collection bit that receives dirt separated in the first cyclone vessel. In addition, the second cyclone vessels have their own respective separate inlets that are configured in such a way that each of the inlets guides air to one corresponding secondary cyclone vessel. Such prior art cyclone vessel dust collectors are large. Their size limits their use to industrial applications. In addition, such prior art cyclone vessel dust collectors are expensive to manufacture and repair.
More recently, attempts have been made to miniaturize multi-cyclone vessel dust collectors, reduce their manufacturing cost reduce their repair and maintenance cost, and to facilitate their domestic, i.e., residential use, where they can used to remove dirt, dusts or the like from cleaning surfaces.
For example, the cyclone vessel dust collector disclosed in GB 2 360 719 is configured in such a way that plural secondary cyclone vessels are inserted into a primary cyclone vessel chamber. This cyclone vessel dust collector can somewhat reduce the height of the apparatus. However, such a cyclone vessel dust collector has at least one disadvantage in that the space for the primary cyclone vessel chamber is reduced and the entire dust collection space is narrowed. Thus, the dust collection capacity is significantly reduced. The device is also difficult to repair and maintain.
In addition, the cyclone vessel dust collector disclosed in WO 02/067755 comprise a primary cyclone vessel and plural secondary cyclone vessels installed above the primary cyclone vessel, wherein an inlet/outlet unit formed by a separate member is interposed between the primary cyclone vessel and the plural secondary cyclone vessels. A lower end plate of the cyclone vessel dust collector is arranged to be capable of being opened and closed in such a way that if a lever provided on a handle on the top of the cyclone vessel dust collector is compressed, the lower end plate can be opened, thereby allowing collected dusts to be dumped. Because of how the secondary cyclone vessels are arranged above the primary cyclone vessel, the entire height of the apparatus is very high and the secondary cyclone vessels are tilted. In addition, the device is inconvenient to dump collected dusts because the entire device must be moved a place where it can be emptied.